Russian Central Bank not to revoke licences “in heaps”

MOSCOW, December 26 (Itar-Tass) - Withdrawal of banks’ licences was a forced measure in the absence of any other solutions, First Deputy head of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Aleksey Simanovsky told Itar-Tass commenting on the recent cases of revoking Russian banks’ licences.

Dispelling any speculations about alleged CBR intentions to revoke a licence from that or another bank is very important to maintaining stability,” he said describing the rumours as “lies and provocations” whose disseminators should face a penalty. The CBR had no ‘kill lists’, nor was it planning to revoke licences in heaps, the official assured. He added these decisions were “forced” when required by law and no other reasonable solutions were available.

The CBR “is sweeping dead wood”, Simanovsky explained, adding no “mass executions” were on the agenda. Speaking of the importance of the banks that forfeited licences this year, he said they accounted for less than 1 percent of the entire banking system’s assets, the same applied to deposits, which is not a critical figure. “Any stress-test in any country shows much more ‘impressive’ results,” he added.